Unsilencing the Home Village: A Discursive-Theoretical Analysis of the Construction of the Rural in Chinese Short Videos

Xudong Weng; Siqi Liu

Unsilencing the Home Village: A Discursive-Theoretical Analysis of the Construction of the Rural in Chinese Short Videos

Data publikacji: 28.09.2022

Zeszyty Prasoznawcze, 2022, Tom 65, Numer 3 (251), s. 43 - 62

https://doi.org/10.4467/22996362PZ.22.027.15954

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Tytuły

Unsilencing the Home Village: A Discursive-Theoretical Analysis of the Construction of the Rural in Chinese Short Videos

Abstrakt

With the rapid rise of digital technologies, the short video, as a low-threshold media form, enables rural subjects to become visible in the public sphere and to realize expression and performance of self-identity. Drawing on Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory as the theoretical backbone, this study adopted discourse-theoretical analysis on 294 short videos about rural daily life on the Chinese video sharing website Bilibili to discuss how short videos function in the discursive construction of rural areas. The study finds that, first of all, rural people’s active media practice dislocates the hegemonic identity formation by demonstrating various dimensions of rural areas. Secondly, we can see three nodal points of the counter-hegemonic discourse on the rural at work: humanized space for daily life, diversified citizenship with dignity, and subjects with initiative and responsibility in national ideologies. Last but not least, although short videos unprecedentedly amplify the voice of the countryside’s counter-hegemonic discourse, such resistance is still limited by the inherently unbalanced power relations between the urban and the rural.

FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This work is supported by the China Scholarship Council [grant number: 202007050042].

Funding Acknowledgement

This work is supported by the China Scholarship Council [grant number: 202007050042].

Słowa kluczowe

rural China, short video, discursive struggle, discourse theory, DTA

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Informacje

Informacje: Zeszyty Prasoznawcze, 2022, Tom 65, Numer 3 (251), s. 43 - 62

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/22996362PZ.22.027.15954

Typ artykułu: Oryginalny artykuł naukowy

Tytuły:

Polski:

Unsilencing the Home Village: A Discursive-Theoretical Analysis of the Construction of the Rural in Chinese Short Videos

Angielski:

Unsilencing the Home Village: A Discursive-Theoretical Analysis of the Construction of the Rural in Chinese Short Videos

Autorzy

Xudong Weng

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8668-5906

Television School, Communication University of China Beijing, Chiny

Siqi Liu

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5831-0085

Television School, Communication University of China Beijing, Chiny

Publikacja: 28.09.2022

Status artykułu: Otwarte

Licencja: CC BY

Udział procentowy autorów:

Xudong Weng (Autor) - 50%

Siqi Liu (Autor) - 50%

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Angielski

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